What Is the Global South? A Plain Definition
The Global South refers to the roughly 130 countries of Africa, Latin America, Asia (excluding Japan, South Korea and Israel) and Oceania (excluding Australia and New Zealand) that share a history of colonisation and a subordinate position in the world economy. It is a political and economic grouping, not a geographic one. This article explains the definition, the origin of the term, who counts as Global South, how it differs from Third World and developing countries, and why it matters in current diplomacy.
The Global South refers to the roughly 130 countries of Africa, Latin America, Asia (excluding Japan, South Korea and Israel) and Oceania (excluding Australia and New Zealand) that share a history of colonisation and a subordinate position in the world economy. It is a political and economic grouping, not a geographic one. This article explains the definition, the origin of the term, who counts as Global South, how it differs from Third World and developing countries, and why it matters in current diplomacy.
The definition, in one paragraph
The Global South is the group of roughly 130 countries — across Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, most of Asia, and Oceania outside Australia and New Zealand — that were shaped by colonialism and sit lower down the global economic order. The Global North is the other side of the line: Western Europe, the United States, Canada, Japan, South Korea, Israel, Australia and New Zealand. The split is political and economic, not geographical. Australia sits deep in the southern hemisphere and belongs to the North. India is north of the equator and belongs to the South. If you remember one thing, remember that: "South" here is shorthand for a shared historical position, not a compass direction.
The term does a specific job. It groups countries by what happened to them — extraction, colonial rule, unequal trade terms, debt dependence — rather than by how poor they are today. That is why Qatar, with a per-capita income above most of Europe, is still usually counted as Global South, and why the phrase survives even as economies inside it diverge wildly.
Where the term came from
The writer Carl Oglesby used "global South" in 1969, in a Catholic magazine essay about the Vietnam War, describing the North's dominance over the South as producing an intolerable social order. It stayed marginal for a decade. What made it stick was the Brandt Report of 1980, chaired by former West German chancellor Willy Brandt, which drew a wiggling line across a world map — the Brandt Line — dividing the rich industrial North from everything below it, dipping to keep Australia and New Zealand on the northern side.
After the Cold War ended, "Third World" made no sense any more. The First World was the capitalist bloc, the Second World was the Soviet bloc, and once the Second World collapsed the numbering was orphaned. "Global South" filled the gap, and had two advantages: it carried no ranking, and it named a shared history rather than a deficiency. "Developing countries" implies a single ladder everyone is climbing at different speeds. "Global South" implies a relationship between two groups.
| Term | Era | What it grouped by | Main problem with it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Third World | 1950s–1990s | Cold War alignment | The Second World no longer exists |
| Developing countries | 1960s–present | Income and industrialisation | Implies one ladder, one destination |
| Less developed / underdeveloped | 1950s–1980s | Perceived deficiency | Openly hierarchical |
| Global South | 1969, mainstream after 1980 | Colonial history and economic position | Hides huge differences inside the group |
Who is in it — and the awkward cases
Broad strokes: all of Africa; all of Latin America and the Caribbean; Asia except Japan, South Korea and Israel; Oceania except Australia and New Zealand. That is the working definition used by the UN's South-South cooperation office and by most academics. It covers around 85 percent of the world's population.
The edges get argued over. China is the second-largest economy on earth and a major creditor to poorer countries, yet it calls itself Global South and leads Southern blocs. Russia is not usually counted as either North or South and increasingly courts the South politically. The Gulf states are rich but Southern by history. Turkey, Mexico and Chile are OECD members but Southern in most listings. Eastern Europe has spent thirty years in an in-between category some scholars call the "Global East".
This is the strongest criticism of the term. Lumping Singapore with South Sudan, or Brazil with Burundi, flattens differences that matter enormously. Some writers now prefer "majority world" for the same set of countries, since it states a fact — most people live there — instead of implying a hierarchy.
Why it is showing up everywhere right now
The phrase has surged in diplomacy since 2022. When most Western countries sanctioned Russia over Ukraine and much of Africa, Asia and Latin America declined to join, commentators reached for "the Global South" to name that bloc of refusal. India built its 2023 G20 presidency around speaking for the South and got the African Union admitted as a permanent member. BRICS expanded to bring in Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran and the UAE. At climate talks, Southern negotiators won the loss and damage fund by arguing that countries which industrialised first owe compensation to countries bearing the heat now.
The common thread is bargaining power. Southern governments increasingly refuse to pick sides between Washington, Brussels and Beijing, and treat non-alignment as leverage rather than neutrality. Debt is the other thread: dozens of countries spend more servicing loans than on health or education, and reforming the IMF and World Bank voting structure is now a standing Southern demand.
One caution when you read the news. "The Global South wants X" is almost always too strong. There is no Global South parliament, no single position, and Southern countries compete with each other over trade, migration and territory as much as they cooperate. The term describes a shared structural position, and sometimes a shared negotiating tactic — not a shared mind.
How to use the term without getting it wrong
Use it when the point is about power and history — trade rules, debt, climate liability, who sets the terms at the IMF. Avoid it when you mean something more specific, like low-income countries or the least developed countries, because those have actual definitions and thresholds. If your sentence would still be true with "poor countries" swapped in, you probably wanted a narrower word.
One more habit worth keeping: name the country. Nigeria's problem with debt is not Vietnam's problem with tariffs. The grouping is useful for describing a system; it is nearly useless for describing a place.
- Say Global South when discussing colonial legacy, unequal trade or collective bargaining in global institutions.
- Say low-income or least developed countries when you mean measurable poverty.
- Say non-aligned or specific bloc names (BRICS, G77, African Union) when you mean an actual organisation.
- Name the individual country whenever you are describing a concrete situation.
FAQs
Is India part of the Global South?
Yes. India is one of the most prominent Global South countries and has positioned itself as a spokesperson for the group, notably during its 2023 G20 presidency when it pushed for the African Union to join the G20 permanently.
Is China part of the Global South?
China identifies itself as a Global South country and leads Southern groupings like BRICS, though the label is contested because it is the world's second-largest economy and a major lender to poorer nations.
Why is Australia considered Global North?
Because the categories track economic position and colonial history, not latitude. Australia is a wealthy, industrialised settler-colonial state closely tied to Western institutions, so the Brandt Line of 1980 was drawn to loop below it and include it in the North.
What is the Brandt Line?
A line drawn on a world map in the 1980 Brandt Report separating richer industrialised countries from poorer ones. It runs roughly along 30 degrees north, then dips south of Asia to place Australia and New Zealand in the North.
Is Global South the same as Third World?
They cover a similar set of countries but mean different things. Third World described Cold War non-alignment with the US and Soviet blocs, while Global South describes a shared colonial history and subordinate economic position — which is why it outlived the Cold War.
What does "majority world" mean?
It is an alternative label for the Global South, coined by Bangladeshi photographer Shahidul Alam, which points out that these countries hold most of the world's population. It avoids framing them as lagging behind or lesser.
How many countries are in the Global South?
Around 130, depending on who is counting. The UN Office for South-South Cooperation uses a list of about 130 to 135 countries, together holding roughly 85 percent of the world's population.